ghetto dad
08-31-2009, 09:58 PM
Well, after a long week of trying to decide when and where I was going to fish this weekend, the decision was made to fish the Full Day Catalina boat The Tide Change out of Long Beach Sportfishing. After finally fishing offshore last weekend in who know how long, I really wanted to make another trip to SD this weekend. My wife and daughters even gifted me some money for my birthday on Friday specifically for an offshore trip, but after seing my best bet would be a 1 ˝ Day, and deciding that I didn’t want tuna bad enough to spend over $300, I figured that I would just stay local.
I called Captain Anthony Fisher of the Tide Change last night, and he told me that the bass fishing was great, along with a couple yellows. He had me at “bass fishing was great,” and I told him that I would be there in the morning to fish with him. So I gathered all my weapons of choice for this trip, and attempted to sleep for a few hours in this damn heat before my trip. 3:30 am came very quickly, I rolled out of bed, and headed for Long Beach.
Upon arrival, I had noticed that it was going to be a nice light load, which was excellent! My life long friend Peter was also there, excited about our day’s possiblitlies. Anthony called us down to the boat, we all signed in, and left promptly at 5:00 am.
Crew today was Captain Anthony, Mitch, Bobby, and Danny on the deck, and Christine in the galley. Anthony made his morning safety speech, followed by the plan for the day. He told us once we received our bait from San Pedro Bait Company, we were going to make a “longer than usual” run to the backside of the Island, where fishing has been a lot better than the usual front side of the Island. He said there have been quite a few yellows making an appearance, and the bass fishing has been great. He gave us rigging tips, and told us to bear with him, and be patient, and that it would be approximately 4 hours until we started fishing. This is one reason why I love fishing the Tide Change on this kind of trip, it has bunks! We arrived at the Bait Boat, and were jugged out with nice chovies and 4-6 dines.
We all set up our gear on the way to the bait boat, and my personal choices were:
12 lb with a 2/0 hook.
15 lb also with a 2/0 hook.
20 lb also with a 2/0 hook.
25 lb with a mint green Tady C.
The drive across was pretty nice, and we made the turn around the West End of the Island about 3 ˝ hours later, and made up way down the back side. We finally arrived at the first spot:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10269.jpg
Mitch threw some chum, and the Calico Bass started doing back flips out of the water. We dropped the anchor, and started fishing. I started off with my 15 lb flylining a sardine. The bass on this spot were VERY “lazy,” they would absolutely freight train you, you would go to set the hook, and there would be no hook set. At one point, I even did a “10 count”, threw my reel in gear, and no fish. I told Anthony that I like it when its challenging, and finally set the hook solid on a nice Calico Bass! Pete also ended up getting the first of a few cuda we caught for the day:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10270.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10271.jpg
Fish finally started to “wake up,” and eventually, Calico Bass started flying over the rail. Guys that decided to fish the dropper loop and squid were rewarded with a few decent sheephead. This bite only lasted a short time, due to the lack of current. There were also some nice yellows that were cruising around the boat teasing the hell out of us, but not taking any of our offerings. This spot was pretty much done, so Anthony decided to head further down the backside, and look for some condition, mainly some current. When this spot was all said and done, some very, very nice bass were landed, along with a few nice sheephead. Not bad for the start of the day.
Anthony scoped out quite a few spots along the back, none with any condition, so we headed further down the backside, until we found a spot with some potential, dropped the anchor, and started fishing:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10272.jpg
Once again, BIG bass boiling all over the kelp, along with many, many smaller models. More Calico bass slayage by everyone, at least the ones that could fish. After awhile of bait fishing, I went to my iron, made my first cast, started a very fast wind, and fish ON!:
I HATE when other people take my pic..this pic does this fish no justice, it was estimated by Captain Anthony to weigh appx 6-7 lbs….RELEASED UNHARMED!! Caught on Iron
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10274.jpg
Another nice fish, RELEASED UNHARMED! Caught on Iron
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10276.jpg
Pete with one of his many, many quality Calicos!
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10277.jpg
Another beast, released unharmed! Caught on Iron
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10278.jpg
Gabriel with a nice, nice Calico Bass…caught on the Iron!
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10280.jpg
LOL! Nice fish Mitch!
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10281.jpg
NICE fish Pete….caught on Iron, and released unharmed!
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10282.jpg
NBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU still lives….
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10283.jpg
This spot was producing quite well, and one of the passengers even got a nice little WSB to gaff. Two yellows were also hooked on this spot, both anglers absolutely were buttholed, and busted off. Man, I love fishing bass on Iron, especially the bigger models, that would hit your jig so hard, your hand flies off your reel handle, lol. Eventually, this spot petered out, and we moved further down the Island.
On EVERY spot, there were yellows cruising around the boat, and boiling around the boat. These fish are going to go off at any time, I hope I am on a boat out there when it happens. We ended our day down East on the bait grounds, where the fish were absolutely DESTROYING the green whams on 12 lb, now that was really fun.
Not sure of final count for the boat, but both Pete and I ended up with an easy limit of nice quality bass, I ended up releasing 5-6 fish from 4 to about 7 lbs, along with millions of shorts, and Pete also released a few fish from about 4-6 lbs. I really wish people would get more into catching and releasing the larger Calicos, it is very important. The action today was excellent, and the crew today was also excellent. BIG props to Captain Anthony for making the very long run today, he worked his *** off to put us on fish. You all need to give this boat and crew a try when you can.
Thanks for reading….
GD
I called Captain Anthony Fisher of the Tide Change last night, and he told me that the bass fishing was great, along with a couple yellows. He had me at “bass fishing was great,” and I told him that I would be there in the morning to fish with him. So I gathered all my weapons of choice for this trip, and attempted to sleep for a few hours in this damn heat before my trip. 3:30 am came very quickly, I rolled out of bed, and headed for Long Beach.
Upon arrival, I had noticed that it was going to be a nice light load, which was excellent! My life long friend Peter was also there, excited about our day’s possiblitlies. Anthony called us down to the boat, we all signed in, and left promptly at 5:00 am.
Crew today was Captain Anthony, Mitch, Bobby, and Danny on the deck, and Christine in the galley. Anthony made his morning safety speech, followed by the plan for the day. He told us once we received our bait from San Pedro Bait Company, we were going to make a “longer than usual” run to the backside of the Island, where fishing has been a lot better than the usual front side of the Island. He said there have been quite a few yellows making an appearance, and the bass fishing has been great. He gave us rigging tips, and told us to bear with him, and be patient, and that it would be approximately 4 hours until we started fishing. This is one reason why I love fishing the Tide Change on this kind of trip, it has bunks! We arrived at the Bait Boat, and were jugged out with nice chovies and 4-6 dines.
We all set up our gear on the way to the bait boat, and my personal choices were:
12 lb with a 2/0 hook.
15 lb also with a 2/0 hook.
20 lb also with a 2/0 hook.
25 lb with a mint green Tady C.
The drive across was pretty nice, and we made the turn around the West End of the Island about 3 ˝ hours later, and made up way down the back side. We finally arrived at the first spot:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10269.jpg
Mitch threw some chum, and the Calico Bass started doing back flips out of the water. We dropped the anchor, and started fishing. I started off with my 15 lb flylining a sardine. The bass on this spot were VERY “lazy,” they would absolutely freight train you, you would go to set the hook, and there would be no hook set. At one point, I even did a “10 count”, threw my reel in gear, and no fish. I told Anthony that I like it when its challenging, and finally set the hook solid on a nice Calico Bass! Pete also ended up getting the first of a few cuda we caught for the day:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10270.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10271.jpg
Fish finally started to “wake up,” and eventually, Calico Bass started flying over the rail. Guys that decided to fish the dropper loop and squid were rewarded with a few decent sheephead. This bite only lasted a short time, due to the lack of current. There were also some nice yellows that were cruising around the boat teasing the hell out of us, but not taking any of our offerings. This spot was pretty much done, so Anthony decided to head further down the backside, and look for some condition, mainly some current. When this spot was all said and done, some very, very nice bass were landed, along with a few nice sheephead. Not bad for the start of the day.
Anthony scoped out quite a few spots along the back, none with any condition, so we headed further down the backside, until we found a spot with some potential, dropped the anchor, and started fishing:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10272.jpg
Once again, BIG bass boiling all over the kelp, along with many, many smaller models. More Calico bass slayage by everyone, at least the ones that could fish. After awhile of bait fishing, I went to my iron, made my first cast, started a very fast wind, and fish ON!:
I HATE when other people take my pic..this pic does this fish no justice, it was estimated by Captain Anthony to weigh appx 6-7 lbs….RELEASED UNHARMED!! Caught on Iron
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10274.jpg
Another nice fish, RELEASED UNHARMED! Caught on Iron
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10276.jpg
Pete with one of his many, many quality Calicos!
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10277.jpg
Another beast, released unharmed! Caught on Iron
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10278.jpg
Gabriel with a nice, nice Calico Bass…caught on the Iron!
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10280.jpg
LOL! Nice fish Mitch!
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10281.jpg
NICE fish Pete….caught on Iron, and released unharmed!
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10282.jpg
NBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU still lives….
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10283.jpg
This spot was producing quite well, and one of the passengers even got a nice little WSB to gaff. Two yellows were also hooked on this spot, both anglers absolutely were buttholed, and busted off. Man, I love fishing bass on Iron, especially the bigger models, that would hit your jig so hard, your hand flies off your reel handle, lol. Eventually, this spot petered out, and we moved further down the Island.
On EVERY spot, there were yellows cruising around the boat, and boiling around the boat. These fish are going to go off at any time, I hope I am on a boat out there when it happens. We ended our day down East on the bait grounds, where the fish were absolutely DESTROYING the green whams on 12 lb, now that was really fun.
Not sure of final count for the boat, but both Pete and I ended up with an easy limit of nice quality bass, I ended up releasing 5-6 fish from 4 to about 7 lbs, along with millions of shorts, and Pete also released a few fish from about 4-6 lbs. I really wish people would get more into catching and releasing the larger Calicos, it is very important. The action today was excellent, and the crew today was also excellent. BIG props to Captain Anthony for making the very long run today, he worked his *** off to put us on fish. You all need to give this boat and crew a try when you can.
Thanks for reading….
GD